Trapdoor Pot

Saturday February 21st 2015

Members present: Alistair Rollinson,  Andy Hurlbatt,  Rachel Findlay,  Will Scott

After the usual drive and pratting about in Bernie's and Inglesport (Rachel forgot her jammers, so bought some, and Will wanted some elbow pads) we parked up on the road near Cold Cotes. There's a handy lay-by next to the junction indicated in the description. The change was brisk, with an cold wind, but fortunately it was dry. Armed with a compass, GPS, and the Lat/Long of the entrance we started the ~25 minute walk up the hill. Finding the "vague" path was easy, as years of Ingleborough walkers had turned it into a veritable highway since NFTFH was written. Following the description, and after a little bit of fuss with the GPS, we found the entrance at about 12:30.

The first section of the cave was not at all as I had imagined, with very little distance between each feature mentioned in the description. After the entrance pitch, followed by a climb, awkward squeeze, climb (a running theme throughout the whole cave) we reached the first major obstacle - The Ripper. A short, tight, slit that requires the removal of SRT kit for all but the slimmest of cavers. Conveniently, the second pitch, That's Better, lies not three metres further, with just enough space between to don SRT kit. At the bottom, a boulder slope leads down to a scaffolded climb down. I opted to wait at the top until Alistair was on the rope, then climbed down to squat in a tiny chamber from where the next pitch can be rigged. After rigging the pitch (from three bolts, there's one hiding under the left hand wall) I asked Alistair if Rachel was down yet, to which the answer was no. The news reached me that Will was having difficulties with The Ripper. After some grunting and apparently the removal of the top half of an oversuit, he was through.

The next pitch (FTSE Choke Pitch) is short but awkward, with an unfortunately placed shelf to negotiate. After pushing through the next squeeze (The Gripper, with some very inconvenient drips), a short crawl led to the comparatively spacious head of the next pitch, Ready To Roll. An aptly described 'large Y-hang' makes this pitch one of the more pleasant to descend in the cave. At the base a couple of twists takes you into a low, thrutchy crawl with an awkward hole at the far end. After deciding feet first was the way forward due to that hole, I made my way through. Upon reaching the hole, I was just deciding the best plan of attack when

AAHHH!!
BOOM!!

Will's shout accompanied by the loudest crash I'd ever heard in a cave came from the pitch behind me. With a mental image of Will having fallen, I thrutched like lives depended on it. By the time I'd reached the corner all three voices had been heard speaking in normal tones, and it was quickly confirmed that nobody was injured. Will said that his pulley had caught on a bit of rock, which happened to be attached to a large cracked nose of rock, about 60 cm by 30 cm. This fell about 10 metres and shattered at the base of the pitch, where Rachel had been standing a short time before.

After everyone had had a chance to calm down a bit, we carried on. The hole after the thrutch didn't present too much of an issue, and left us on a false floor about 5 metres up a rift. A short traverse, followed by a handline (Millennium Pot) brought us to the bottom. Around the corner, a few metres progress in a hading rift leads to an "esoteric squeeze". This consists of a tight, sideways crawl (The Stripper) accessed from part way down a mostly vertical chimney. The trick here is to descend slightly past the crawl, then post yourself in left side down. An awkwardly placed wedge of rock can trap poorly placed hips or shoulders. After this, a chimney down Hammerhead Pot lands on a small pile of rocks.

A short crawl opens straight onto the top of Electron Pitch, rigged from a handful of bolts on the right hand wall of the crawl, then a swing out of the crawl and down to a rebelay. From here, the guide recommends descending to a large ledge, from where you can climb down. However as the top of Megatron is only a couple of metres away, having a slightly longer rope (27m+) will allow you to reach the first bolt of Megatron and feel a lot safer. A short Y-hanged drop to another ledge takes you a tall-person-friendly traverse out to the final two bolts, from which a large Y-hang can be rigged. The combined Electron and Megatron pitches could be rigged with a single 75 - 80 m rope, however this might make rigging the very top of Electron tricky due to the increased awkwardness of such a long rope. Megatron's descent in such a large chamber feels particularly impressive after the rest of the cave, and we all happily sat on the pile of mud and boulders at the bottom, munching some snacks.

The way out was unfortunately (though in hind sight, amusingly) not without incident. The esoteric squeeze that presents a logistical challenge on the way in is more demanding on the way out. Knowing that there was the potential for slipping down the other side of the squeeze, I opted to go head first. Unfortunately this leaves you in a position of having to do an awkward sideways sit-up with very little to grab onto. Being a skinny bugger I was able to use the space above the end of the crawl, but I could clearly see it would be far easier to do the crawl feet first, reversing the manoeuvre needed on the way in. Having communicated this to the rest of the group, I was surprised when I got called back after Rachel had successfully met me on the other side. Back at the squeeze I found Will's very red face looking uncomfortably at me.

"I'm stuck."

After a few minutes of me pulling up and Will trying to move forward, it was clear that he wasn't going to get through that way ("I'm just too hench." ). So with Alistair pulling his wellies, he was successfully extracted backwards. Attempting the crawl feet first, with some guidance at both ends, he was through quickly, and everyone gathered at the base of Millennium Pitch for a breather.

Fortunately the rest of the exit was simple enough, even The Ripper posed little problem, and we were outside enjoying the light dusting of snow by about 10 pm. The traditional pizza and Rubicon completed a good day's caving.